Fairbanks, Alaska

 We are spending some time (a week and a half) in Fairbanks.  We started our visit at our second Boondockers Welcome stop and planned to visit a glass repair shop to check in on Ron and Rhonda's crinkled kitchen window.  The good news is it will make it to Indiana in September without any further work.  The bad news is that when we went to leave we had no trailer brakes.  Traced it back to a brake bracket that hadn't been torqued properly when we had our suspension upgraded.  This lead to losing all of the bolts holding one of the brake calipers on and then the caliper losing shoes, cylinder and fluid. The parts are almost all here and we will put it back together next week. It is not stopping us from enjoying our visit.

Fairbanks is the second largest city in Alaska, located in Interior Alaska.  It is among the warmest areas in summer and coldest in the winter.  It is also home to Terrie's sister, Leslie and her husband J.R. Lewis. This area was established as a gold mining center in Alaska and continues to be active in the gold mining industry, although with different mining practices. We have seen a lot of things in Fairbanks already, with more to come before we head off to Denali National Park next Thursday.

So far, we have been to Creamer's Field (bird sanctuary), the Fountainhead Auto Museum, Museum of the North, the Morris Thompson Center, Gold Dredge #8, and a farmer's market.  Today is Chena Hot Spring Ice Bar and Geothermal Plant Tour.

Five bolts that hold the caliper bracket to the IS arm were missing. Bracket also cracked, which is due today or Monday.

We got to see some Sandhill Cranes still hanging around at Creamer's Field.

A beautiful Alaskan Native parka.

Leslie telling Terrie the details on how this Native American deerskin dress was constructed. (It took a year just for the design).

Terrie and Leslie got to meet up at the museum and we had lunch at the Cafe.

This is the outside of the Museum of the North on the UAF campus.

This is Gold Dredge #8 in Fairbanks. It is owned and operated by the same family that runs the Riverboat Discovery. Gold dredges were used to automate the placer mining process.  This was run by four people.  Every 2 weeks a cleaning crew came to take the gold from the weirs.  At that time, American's could not buy gold, so all gold was sold to the US government at $35/ounce.  The economics became cost prohibitive and shut down.  Today, gold is at about $1900/ounce.

Terrie, Leslie and I pooled our gold panning.  Terrie got a new set of earrings.

The gold gang panning for riches.

This is how the term "flash in the pan" came about.

Terrie looking at her new jewelry.

We have been to a lot of museums over the years on our travels.  The Fountainhead Auto Museum in Fairbanks is the most authentic of any we have been to for autos.  First, it is only automobiles from pre-WWII.  All but three of the cars are driven annually.  One of those is a Duryea, the beginning of the automotive design.  The last time it was driven was by the inventor to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  I am only including a few photos.  If you want to see it, book a trip to Fairbanks. They also had period clothing at all of the displays, including one of Bing Crosby's tuxedos.

Terrie and I got to sit in one on display.

A general view as you come into the museum.

One of the many beautifully restored cars.  All but three are driven once per year

Did I mention, my brother-in-law, JR Lewis, is the on air host for NBC local news?  He is always on top of things.  This is for National Flamingo Day.

We still have a lot to do in Fairbanks - Riverboat Discovery, Puppy Squeezing, Chena Hot Springs and the North Pole.  Leslie and JR both work the Riverboat Discovery, Leslie as supervisor/coach of the performers and JR as guide/announcer on the boat in the afternoon after his morning TV gig.  One of the stops on the Riverboat Discovery is the Susan Butcher Kennels. If you have followed the Iditarod ever, Susan Butcher was a four time winner of the Iditarod, winning 4 of 5 years between 1986 and 1990. In 2006, Susan died of cancer.  Her husband still runs the kennel and it is still one of the stops for the Riverboat Discovery on the Chena River.  In 2014, we got to visit the kennels at about 10 pm and play with the puppies. This year we are doing it during the daytime (who can tell the difference?). So, the next edition of Mountain Meanderers will have pictures of dog sled puppies.  Until then, we have things to do, places to go and people to see.